Optimization design of truck-mounted drone vehicle route considering consumer replenishment demand

Aiming at the problems of freshness and shortage that often occur in fresh distribution, this study proposed an innovative distribution mode, in which trucks carry drones for delivery, supplemented by independent drones to respond to replenishment needs within and outside the limited range, and proposed two replenishment strategies. An optimization model aiming at cost minimization and customer satisfaction maximization was constructed. Simulated annealing algorithm combined with three improved neighborhood search algorithms was used to optimize the path, and an adaptive strategy was designed for dynamic adjustment. At the same time, considering the suddenness and uncertainty of replenishment demand, a reasonable replenishment time threshold acceptable to enterprises is proposed to cope with the sudden demand. Through comparative analysis of numerical examples, it is proved that the proposed joint delivery mode of truck and drone can not only effectively solve the problem of replenishment demand, improve customer satisfaction, but also significantly reduce the cost compared with the traditional distribution mode. This distribution model not only brings new research perspectives and methods to the field of fresh commodity distribution, but also can significantly reduce urban road traffic congestion and improve the efficiency and sustainability of the traffic environment.